>> eric: we have to leave it here. thank you for watching. see you tomorrow. ♪ >> bret: two generals, socialite and author, f.b.i. agent and a tangled web growing by the minute. it's the sex scandal that rocked washington. ahead of important hearings on capitol hill. this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. the unfair that untanned c.i.a. career of general david petraeus and the assassination of a u.s. ambassador and three others in cincinnati bengals. the former is a story that is changing by the minute. while the latter is being seen in a new light ahead of congressional hearings. we have fox team coverage tonight. intelligence

correspondent catherine herridge looks at the matc machinations on capitol hill, and who knew what when. but first, jennifer griffin untangles the complicated relationships here. there are a lot of them. good evening. >> good evening, bret. in the military they call this literal damagcollateral damage. as of monday, c.i.a. director resigned over affair with his biographer. today we learn the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is implicated in the scandal as well as unnamed f.b.i. official who was taken off the case for becoming too involve involved. david petraeus's paramour seen in public for the first time since the affair was revealed friday. jogging in rain outside her brother's northwest home and later in suv. overnight, the defense secretary announced john allen, the commanderring general in afghanistan was also under investigation for sending and receiving hundreds of "flirtatious" e-mails that

amounted to 30,000 pages to and from jill kelley, the tampa bay socialite whose complaint to the f.b.i. resulted in the petraeus affair being revealed. defense secretary panetta office notified the chairman of the house armed services committee that he referred the allen investigation to pentagon inspector general. >> while the matter is under investigation, and before the facts are determined, general allen will remain commanderer. general allen is entitled to due to press in this -- due process in this matter. >> white house postponed the allen confirmation hearing to be the next supreme commander of europe slated for thursday and asked that thenate move quickly to appoint the next commanderer for afghanistan. allen, married, admitted he didn't have a sexual affair with kelly. petraeus and allen got to know jill kelley in 2010. allen was petraeus' deputy if tampa bay florida, where

kelley is married to a surgeon and pension for hosting parties for top military brass. she used to shop with petraeus' wife holly. meanwhile, paula broadwell has hired an attorney. her father told the "new york daily news" that, "this is about something else entirely and the truth will come out." you wait and see. there is a lot more here than meets the eye. in another twist, it seems both petraeus and allen wrote letters of support for kelley's twin sister as part of a bitter custody battle in september. "we hosted them and the kelley family for christmas dinner this past year," petraeus wrote on september 20. in each case we have seen a very loving relationship. "i humbly request your reconsideration of the existing mandated custody settlement, allen wrote on his official letterhead. in a separate twist, the f.b.i. agent that kelley first approacheapproached is investigg himself for sending shirtless photos to jill kelley and becoming obsessed with the case. he may be the source of the

leak to congress about the petraeus affair. >> bret: unbelievable. some on capitol hill are saying all of this is overshadowing the benghazi investigation. the c.i.a. is denying any prisoners were held at that c.i.a. annex in benghazi, saying carefully worded statement that the c.i.a. got out of the detension business in 2009. >> our principal source at the annex on september 11 says there were three libyan detainees who were handed oaf to the libyan security forces that night. our colleague adam housley has sources on the ground in benghazi saying the c.i.a. annex was being used as a processing facility for detainee despite the 2009 exective order signed by president obama barring these black sites. daily beast reporter eli lake reported on january 28, 2009, when he worked for "washington times" there was a loophole in executive order that enabled the c.i.a. to hold prisoners for a few days for

questioning. "a little noticed exception that allows the spy agency to continue to operate temporary detention facilities abroad." bret? >> bret: we'll continue to follow this part of the story as well. jennifer, from the pentagon, thank you. congress has not lost sight of the connection between the benghazi scandal and the petraeus one. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge looks at how one overlaps the other. good evening. >> thank you, bret. good evening. tonight, two senior democrats are crying foul over the handling of the benghazi scandal. the house minority leader telling reporters late today that congress should have been briefed on the f.b.i.'s investigation in the c.i.a. director. if national security was involved. >> i think there are some answers we have to have about notification to congress. with growing complaints from capitol hill about the failure to notify the leadership of the relevant congressional committees, the white house said the buck stops with the bureau. >> i would refer you to f.b.i., they have as i understand it, protocols in place for when they notify the

legislative exective branchs of investigations. it's simply a fact that the white house was not aware of the situation regarding general petraeus until wednesday. >> the democratic chair of the senate intelligence committee dianne feinstein is now threatening to subpoena a c.i.a. report summarizing petraeus' trip to libya the week of october 31 where he looked in the attack. >> my immediate gut is like this is the national inquirer. every day there is something new. that really does not affect what we're doing. it may add to it somewhat. what the intelligence committee will begin tomorrow is inquiry in the benghazi episode. it's my intention that this is not yet been announced to talk with general petraeus. director petraeus. this ties in to his trip.

that he made. >> the acting c.i.a. director met with senator and my morety leaders on capitol hill, the senate foreign relations committee held a closed, classifieder aing. the fist of half -- first of half a dozen hearings this week where the democrats and republicans insist general petraeus must eventually testify. >> he has just gotten back from a trip over there. but also what happened in a real-time version, because the american people have a right to know. >> asked whether the former c.i.a. director should be required to testify, the white house spokesman suggested petraeus' insight was not mandatory. >> i'm'd say two things. one, it's up to congress to make decisions about who is called to testify. but the president is confident that acting director morrell is catch tent to represent c.i.a. in hearing about benghazi. >> some lawmakers say they

must hear from the former director so he can explain why on september 14, three days after the consulate attack he told lawmakers it was like a flash mob and why he seemed so wedded to the administration view that the anti-islam video was to blame. >> at the time, he presented the conversation to congress on september 14, whether or not he has been told by then or learned by then he was under investigation. that he consciously or subconsciously that could have altered what he told congress. >> we need to hear from david petraeus as well. ultimately, we need to hear from secretary clinton. i'm sure she is willing to talk about it. >> f.b.i. agents raided the home of petraeus' mistress paula broadwell, lawmakers question the timing of events unfolding at a lightning pace after the election. >> why would the raid on the ladies' just happen this week? if this investigation had been going on for months? so i think the f.b.i. has a lot of questions to answer. >> former spokesman for general petraeus incysted publicly the affair ended four months ago. fox news learned in the last week of october at a society

dinner washington for the elite of the u.s. intelligence community, paula broadwell was openly bragging about "two book ideas she and the general were pursuing. the witness who asked to remain inon-mouse said broadwell was beaming and showing no sign of distress though the f.b.i. interviewed her a month earlier. >> bret: thank you. bad news for a third general. defense secretary leon panett panetta -- [ inaudible ] general spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and will retire as three-star general, not a four-star. the looming fiscal cliff does not have the sex appeal or intrigue of tangled spy affairs. but if congress returned to session today, it starts out as high as they come. keeping the u.s. from sliding in to another recession. here's wendell goler. >> reporter: with republicans insisting the president re-election was not a mandate for a tax increase,

white house press secretary jay carney made clear it was a death sentence for the bush administration upper income tax cut. >> the president will not sign a bill that extent tax cuts for the top 2%. extension of the bush era tax cut. >> carney left open the prospect of tax reform though it's unlikely congress has time for that a month-and-a-half before the deadline for deficit reduction plan to avoid tax hikes and spending cuts that could trigger a recession. on capitol hill, the reaction from house budget committee chairman paul ryan. ryan said the treasury department announced the deficit for october, suggesting that 2013 would be the fifth straight trillion-dollar deficit. mitch mcconnell says higher taxes won't solve that problem. >> this is partisan politics. this is not an option. raising tax rates would

destroy 700,000 jobs >> reporter: on this day, the president met with labor and progressive leaders since the day after his re-election that he opposed cuts to medicare and social security benefits. >> the president is committed to making sure that the middle class and the workers are paying the tax for parties we didn't get to. >> reigning in cost of medicare and medicaid is essential to controlling the deficit. mr. obama offered $34 billion a year in savings. republicans don't think it's enough. and they're demanding to be part of the solution. >> the venters also -- the voters also have republican controlled house and closely divided senate. in a government of three equal branchs, that is hardly irrelevant. >> at the white house, despite the seeming impasse over the bush tax cut, carney insists there is flexibility dealing with the deficit. >> i don't think the president is in a position of boxing ourselves in, or boxing others out. he looks forward to meeting with the leaders in congress.

>> before the talks, president will meet with the civic leaders and hold a news conference to make sure the american public knows his take on his re-election. bret? >> bret: wendell goler live on the north lawn. thank you. is a movement for a group of states to leave the union a joke? we'll lay it out later in the grapevine. up next, business leaders expression concern and uncertainty after president obama's re-election. customer erin swenson bought from us online today. so, i'm happy. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? (together) she won't be happy. use ups! she can get a text alert, reroute... even reschedule her package. it's ups my choice. are you happy? i'm happy. i'm happy. i'm hi'm happy. i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. (together) happy. i love logistics.

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>> bret: a week after the election, some business leaders are looking at the results and contemplating what it means for their companies. as correspondent doug mckelway reports, they're worried. >> the president is expected tomorrow to import 20 of the nation's top ceos to tap in businesses after $2 trillion in cash reserves. to stimulate job creation. the looming fiscal cliff, urn certainty if europe and especially the full implementation of obamacare

have businesses fearful of expansion. >> we have calculated there will be some millions of dollars across our system. some millions. so what does that say in that says we won't build more restaurants, we won't hire more people. that is the opposite effect. >> in a separate gathering of ceos today, the "wall street journal" ceo counsel meeting, few industry titans were optimistic. >> i had sessions this morning. they definitely believe there will be some agreement before the fiscal cliff. >> on the fiscal cliff. >> the pessimism may be rooted in history. the last budget negotiations conducted by the super committee. >> it's disappointing but the reality is the president did not weigh in. he issued a threat immediately upon the first meeting. he gave democrats no cover. he showed no leadership. he didn't help us on tax reform, entitlement reform. he needs to be part of the process. that would make a huge difference. >> today, white house signals about the pending negotiation sounded similar to last year. if we ask the wealthiest

americans to pay more, we can continue to invest in area of the economy that need investment. we don't have to ask seniors or parents of disabled children or the least fortunate among us to bear the burden of getting our fiscal house in order. >> both parties may be under greater pressure to compromise this time given the recent signals from the private sector. yesterday hostess brands announced they are closing three bakeries and laying off 627 employees. boeing company, groupon incorporated, applebee's international, papa john an murray industry announced layoffs or job cuts since the election. one thing that would surely ease business pessimism would be administration agreement to streamline regulations. in the past 90 days, the obama administration posted nearly 6,000 regulations of notices on the regulations.gov website. that is an ample of # 8 a day -- average of 68 a day. >> bret: thank you. stocks fell. dow lost 59, nasdaq dropped

20. slightly more americans will be traveling this thig than last year. triple-a predicts 44 million americans will travel 50 miles from home. there is a 35-crept gas prices in the last month. the drop is good thing for travelers, it could spell bad news for north dakota. correspondent alicia acuna looks at the state's future and the place in american energy independence. >> of interest to people all over the world. oil rich shale formation that covers 25,000 square miles of north dakota, montana and parts of canada. it was discovered in 1950. but the president of the north dakota petroleum council said recently companies found where it's most productive. >> at this point, other people are searching for it across the world. >> typical balkan well is projected to produce for 30 years. >> it means that domestic

energy. it means for every barrel we produce we need one less barrel from some unfriendly country. >> worries about the upcoming fiscal cliff and lowered forecast for demand recently put a dent in price per barrel. the biggest threat major drop in oil prices and increase regulations and taxation. >> we are making contact with senators in washington, d.c. >> it's the heart of the country where the activity is full throttle. >> the oil companies are spending $2 billion a month on their investment, just to drill well here. >> north dakota profit from the oil and gas development is estimated $1.6 billion budget surplus. north dakota department of mineral resources says it's been booming because there is not a lot of federal land. the state has a high percentage of privately owned property.

plus the state has a history of being business friendly. bret? >> bret: alicia acuna in denver. thank you. still ahead, the controversial figures who might be up for cabinet posts. first, their homes are uninhabitable. that is just the beginning. how to stay healthy in a tetch rare shelter. e probably gonna double. but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands?

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>> bret: the longoria power authority is looking to restore service to most of the -- the long island power authority is looking to restore service to most of the customers sufficienting in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. more than 50,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark. meanwhile, tens of thousands have taken to shelters after their homes have become uninhabitable. the shelters have undeniably given storm survivors a better option than sleeping out in the cold. but there are still health

risks. here is dr. marc seigel of the fox's medical "a" team. >> close confines here. worried about the spread of disease. how do you prevent that from happening? >> in close quarters it is a problem but we make sure people have water. we make sure people have clean sanitary spaces to use the restroom and shower. we are careful of the food handling, making sure people wear gloves and food served at correct temperature. we have a health assessment here as well to make sure if people are feeling under the weather they can talk to a nurse to see if there is anything that needs to be done. >> at this shelter and at the high school in new jersey, the red cross and local health authorities taken care of more than 200 people on a given night. giving them refuge. >> people are trying to get back to their lives, is there a role for informal therapy here? >> absolutely. that is the mental health

piece. we are here all day and talking to people. sitting a it the table eating meals with them. >> how do you give them sense of control back? >> we talk about what their life is like before and what they will return to. good things. they have families. kids will be back in school. a sense of normalcy again. >> what about post traumatic stress? how do you prevent it from happening after an event like this? >> part of it is doing the work in the crisis so it's not post traumatic. it's not coming back at them in three months or six months. talking about now. where were you? what was happening? who did you feel? what was the damage? >> how do people make the kids feel safe? >> frame it in a bit of an adventure. kind of like an extended catching trip. >> for victims who were animal owners there is a shelter for their pets. >> this has been so good. the hot water, the heat in the place. they have been over. food. it's just been so good. so grateful. >> so how can we end up with better statistics than after

katrina when 35% suffered mental illness and others had heart attacks from the stress? with well organized shelters like this one, victims of sandy are getting the support they need. bret? >> bret: dr. seigel, thank you. the head of engler compounding center linked to -- new england compounding center linked to the meningitis outbreak plans to plead the fifth at wednesday's hearing before the energy and commerce committee. so far, 32 deaths have been reported. the necc sister company has a host of problems. issues range from manufacturing, to sterilety and quality control. they found leaky ceilings, insect and unsanitary conditions. ameridose said in a statement monday it will work to address the issue. a battleground state cuts food stamp benefits two days after the election. victoria's secret ruffles

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♪ >> bret: now fresh pickings from the political grapevine. 80 tow people signed a petition for texas to peacefully leave the united states and create a new government. similar cesession petitions gathering signatures in dozens of other states, many quoting the declaration of independence. white house claims they respond to all petitions that gather over 25,000 signatures.

threshold that florida, louisiana, texas have already crossed. spokesperson for texas for rick perry responded. "governor perry believes in the greatness of our union and nothing should be done to change it." but he shares frustrations that many miles per hours have with the federal government. governor romney battled over many things, including the food stamps. november 9, three days after the election, ohio department of job and family services announced the food stamp benefits will drop by $50 a month for 870,000 of the state's poorest citizens. starting january 1. that adds up to more than half a billion dollars out of grocery pu budget. the state appeal denied which prompted a conservative blo blogger to quip they told me if i voted for romney food stamp benefits would be cut and they were right. victoria secret annual fashion

show got attention for the clothing but not the way they hoped. the native american inspired outfit floor length head dress caused outrage. navajo nation spokesman said any mockery, halloween, victoria's secret they are spitting on us and the culture. victoria's secret apologized and they edited out the segment from the broadcast. a week after the election and more than two months until inauguration day speculation is rampant who might fill the cabinet positions expected to open. some names are controversial. >> leaks from the senior obama administration officials about the cabinet shuffles in the president's second term appear aim to game revis tans that susan rice will face in the u.s. senate if reported she is tapped as secretary of state. >> i think there would be an organized evident bay number of senators to make sure that susan rice is not confirm as secretary of state. should the president choose to

nominate her. you need somebody who has sound judgment, able to ask tough questions at the time of a crisis. to me, susan rice failed that test. >> veteran foreign policy with interest in genocide and development, she faced scrutiny from september 15 when she appeared on five sunday shows pressing narrative of the benghazi attacks since discounted as false. >> does the president have confidence of ambassador susan rice that she can pass confirmation for any post in future cabinet? >> i will not engage in speculation about the personnel matters. the president believes ambassador rice has done an excellent job. and is grateful for her service. ♪ >> reporter: the white house also floated the idea of senator john kerry, the 2004 democratic presidential nominee and current chairman of the foreign relations committee serving as defense secretary. vietnam veteran who turned against the war he famously

threw away medals he was awarded and would have confirmed being in position of awarding medals today. >> there would be significant concerns along the lines that you raised about senator kerry as secretary of defense. >> he would be a great addition to president's cabinet, whether defense department or the state department. but i have known him since 1985. he never mentioned once he wanted to be the secretary of defense. >> the spokeswoman for kerry said his only focus right now is the job as the senior senator from massachusetts and chairman of foreign relations committee. >> bret: thank you. we'll talk about the continuously unfolding drama surrounding general petraeus, with all the fox all-stars after a quick break. ♪

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>> i would refer you to the f.b.i. they have, as is up it, protocols in place for when they notify the legislative exective branchs of investigations. and it is simply a fact that the white house was not affair of the situation regarding general petraeus until wednesday. >> bret: that is the white house briefing today. general petraeus obviously c.i.a. director reseened on friday -- resigned on friday now. we have another scandalvoing the commanderring general in afghanistan. general allen. today we learn the afghanistan commanding general also implicated in this sex scandal. as well as an unnamed f.b.i. official who was taken off the case for becoming personally involved. the statement from tommy vi tabour of the spokesman on general allen's involvement, at the request of the secretary of defense, the president put on hold the nomination of general allen as the head of the european

command. pending the investigation of general allen's conduct by the department of defense i.g. this is where we begin. bring in panel. a.b. stoddard, associate editor of the hill. bill kristol editor of the "weekly standard." mara liasson, national political correspondent of national public radio. in san diego, syndicated columnist charles krauthammer who appears to be at the san diego aquarium. i'm not sure where he is. is that where you are? >> i'm in the shark tank so i have to talk quickly. >> bret: let's start with you, charles. what about this? we have been talking about it for a couple of days. your take. >> the shocking news is that general petraeus thought he could keep his job and stay in that position. what that tells us is important. it meant that he understood that the f.b.i. obviously knew what was going on.

he was hoping the administration officials would not disclose what would happen and therefore hoping he would keep his job. that meant that he understood that his job, his reputation, his legacy, his whole celebrated life was in the hands of the administration. and he expected they would pretext him by keeping it quiet. that brings us to the ultimate i was. his testimony on september 13. that is the thing that connects the scandals and the only thing that makes the sex scandal relevant. otherwise it would be exercise in sensationalism. and voyeurism. nothing else. this is a man who knows the administration holds his fate in his hands an gives the testimony completely at variance with what the secretary of defense said the day before. variance with what he heard from the station chief in

tripoli and everything that we had heard. was he influenced by the fact he knew his fate was held by people in the administration at that time? >> bret: a.b.? >> well, i think another thing that is interesting, i don't know that we know that general allen definitely had some kind of inappropriate affair. >> bret: in fact, he strictly denies this. that there is no affair. >> people are leaping to that conclusion, that is a dangerous conclusion to leap to. people i have spoken with, really insist that jill kelley and petraeus are good friends. which raises the question of whether or not he knew all along even before the f.b.i. investigation happened. if they are such good friends and always spending time together, whether it's couples of other communication, why would she ever not tell him that she received a harassing e-mail about her relationship and her friendship with him from some vainger before she

told the f.b.i. -- strangier before she told the f.b.i.? david petraeus likely became aware of that, at the beginning of the investigation or beforehand. that is an important factor going in to whether or not on september 14, when he was giving a briefing, about the attack in benghazi he knew he was under investigation. >> bret: put up the four shot again of the four pictures. because people are just confused about this, bill. this is on the far left is miss broadwell. she is the bioge biographer, thd person who had the affair with david petraeus. next to petraeus is keley, who receive -- jill kelley receives the e-mails and that starts this f.b.i. investigation. she tells the f.b.i. agent that the e-mails are threatening. the f.b.i. agent then gets involved and starts sending her shirtless pictures of himself. and he is thrown off the case. which is also very strange

element of the story. then on the far side of the picture, general allen, and he falls in to this. bill, because there are thousands of e-mails between general allen and jill kelley that people are reporting are inappropriate or flirtatious. what is the fall-out there? >> let me begin with general allen who i think has been smeared, similar supply smeared by an f.b.i. investigation that got out of control. allens knew the kelleys for a couple of years. more than half of the e-mails involve mrs. allen and mrs. kelley or c.c., dealing with the various arrangements. look, mrs.-- >> bret: i should say hundreds of e-mails. thousands of pages. >> the way it was released sensationally by the f.b.i. or whoever is trying to smear general allen is 20,000 pages. there is accounting each e-mail as a page. you hit reply, that is another two pages a attachments about various parties, mrs. kelley was having. don't know obviously. but there is no reason to believe general allen did anything inappropriate.

i believe he will be vindicated. front page of the "washington post." f.b.i. probe, allen the second general. it's out of control it's unclear what they were investigating in the first place. unclear if they were threatening. it went up the chain. no one found a criminal problem or national security problem to our knowledge. general petraeus thought this would go away, unpleasant, unfortunate and inappropriate interlude in his life. he was wrong about that. the white house asked him to leave and he may have been under pressure to go along with the administration line on september 14. about the video. which he knew was not true. someone else told me that general petraeus on the hill, director petraeus i should say said privately to a member of congress said, what happened in benghazi? he said do you want the official line or the real truth? so i think he knew he was not telling the full truth. he is on the other hand the c.i.a. director. they were involved in pretty

complicated things in benghazi. to be fair, maybe he thought that national security required him not to fully spill beans gand along with a line otherwise politically convenient for the administration. defender of general allen in this. people should be careful before they assume petraeus wasn't doing what he thought was right for country then, too. >> bret: okay. mara? >> i agree with that. also. don't forget the c.i.a. was involved. in preparing the intelligence briefings for the administration. we don't know that the white house had advanced knowledge of the investigationor affair. it's not like they are holding something over him. charles is conducting psycholog call profiles of what petraeus may have thought. when you get in the investigations and they generate headlines like that, in the end, allen could be vindicated but the reputation is taking a hit. for what? we don't know what? they say potential inappropriate.

meaning what? >> what it means, he used the term "sweetheart" about this woman who was a friend of his, which maybe is a term he uses for many people. >> bret: we haven't seen the e-mails. we don't know. we do know as you point out there are hundreds of e-mails with thousands of pages. charles, final word here? >> of course it's held over his head and the sword was lowered on election day. you don't to be a cynic to see that, the ultimate in cynicism. as long as they needed him to give the administration line to quote bill, the sword drops him and he is destroyed. can you manual what it's like to be on the pressure? to think it didn't distort in some way unconsciously his testimony? that is hard to believe. >> bret: next up, we look at

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this is up to congress to make decisions what about is called to testify. the president is confident that acting director morrell is fully informeded and capable of representing the c.i.a. in a hearing about the incident in benghazi. >> i think the general petraeus could add to our understanding. he was the man in charge at the time we need to hear from him. >> i believe he will, i think he is a responsible person. and i believe he will come. so we are going to try to set

that up today. >> bret: well, benghazi hearing start this week, in fact thenate foreign affairs committee held a closed classified hearing today dealing with the state department officials. secretary clinton was not there. she is out of the country. but a number of senators said they would like to hear from her as well. back with our panel. a.b., what about this? who will testify? >> well, i believe david petraeus will testify. i think the members of the intelligence committees are confident that he will. they believe that he is as senator feinstein said a responsible person who will feel accountable and feel sense of duty and come and whether it's in this week or future weeks, in closed session or open that it will happen. they say that they will going to be focused on that initial briefing on september 14, what led him to conclude that the attack on benghazi was result of the video prompted by the video. did he at the time know he was under investigation at the

snibs was he involved with prepping susan rice for sunday shows? if so, with what information? was he speaking to the white house at the time about what official line was? he will have to answer those questions and he will have to give them also the, his assessment from his own investigation that he just conducted on his recent trip to libya, the trip report that you hear the senator keep talking about. and it's just i think a matter of time until it happens. >> bret: bill? >> you know, the fact that petraeus took a trip to libya, just last week, right? to check on what was going on. sensitive c.i.a. activities going on in benghazi. what is striking to get back to charles' point he thought he would stay as c.i.a. director. the white house fired him. we shouldn't pretend that david petraeus designed. he thought he should stay, or the affair ended or hadn't, who knows? but it could stay private, no issue of the national security. he thought he wasn't compromised. he was fired. maybe it was the right decision at the white house

and maybe not. the situation, someone who had independent standing is gone. and the second term of obama and hillary clinton is gone. strikes me that the second term of the obama administration is going to be full of loyalists not people who might stand up to the obama white house. not that petraeus did in case of september. he went along with the convenient line but to be fair maybe he had national security reasons for thinking it was prudent thing to do at the time. >> if he does testify in close or open sessions, the members are going to hear about what was really going on in benghazi and why he said what he did publicly. bill brings up another point, the bigger question is what second term they want and what they want to be surrogate in agencies. >> bret: to bill's point about sticking around and he thought he was sticking around, i want to remind people that broadwell gives this state in the denver, october 26. >> now, i don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the

c.i.a. annex had actually, had take an couple of libyan militia members prisoner and they think the attack on consulate was effort to get prisoners back. still being vetted. the challenging thing for the general petraeus is that in his new position, he is not allowed to communicate with the press. so he has known all of this. they had correspondence with the c.i.a. station chief in libya in 24 hours. they knew what was happening. >> bret: now, catherine herridge confirms today that october 27, she is with general m petraeus, director petraeus at black tie affair, intelligence black tie dinner talking with him. talking about a possible second and third book. not feeling down, describing people there. describe her as kind of energized. not knoc down about anything. what about all of this? and the fact that perhaps

david petraeus really thought he was going to stay on? even despite the f.b.i. looking in to all of this? >> well, that makes the administration behavior inexplicable. during the months when they were looking in to this, thinking they there might have been breach of security or blackmail of the man who holds all of our secrets when it really was an national security risk nobody says anything. congress isn't even informed. he isn't suspended tetch rarely or anything. and then at the very end when they conclude, that it was nothing to do with national security, there were no bridges or dangers. the danger is obviously petraeus believes that he is in the clear, they drop the sword and get rid of him. they reveal the story that disgraces him. that makes no sense at all. >> bret: we will obviously continue all of this. the coverage. we'll have you back in studio and not in the aquarium charles. thank you very much from san

diego. panel, thank you. that is it for the panel. stay tupeed for some final election thoughts.

>> bret: finally tonight, reporters and anchors have a big job, of course, on election night informing the public of the results from many races and ballot questions. sometimes keeping track of it all can prove to be too much. i get it. brain freezes happen. unfortunately, some late night shows choose to keep the tape for a long time. ♪ >> right now it looks like all six proposals are headed for defeat. proposal one, the referendum on the emergency -- uh -- [ laughter ] >> bret: megyn kelly would have jumped in right there. she would have jumped right. >> in and walked down the